On July 31, the results of the preparatory and selection stage of the Russian Summer School on Internet Governance, which took place from July 15 to 30, were summed up. Over the course of two weeks, about 70 people participated in webinars, completed assignments and successfully completed the basic course.
As part of the first stage of the School, students received basic knowledge about Internet Governance and delved into some aspects of the field. They were assisted in this by experts from the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, ICANN, the Institute for Internet Research, the National Research University Higher School of Economics and MGIMO.
Thus, on the first lecture day, Karen Kazaryan (Internet Research Institute) introduced students to the history of the development of the Internet from the point of view of the evolution of approaches to its regulation.
On the second day, George Georgievsky (Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ) spoke about the Internet infrastructure and introduced the basic principles of addressing and routing in the network. The day continued with a lecture by Mikhail Medrish (Internet Governance Committee of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ), in which the expert introduced the audience to the most significant technological ideas underlying the Internet and the reasons for its rapid development.
As part of the third lecture day, Mikhail Anisimov (ICANN) discussed with the students the basics of Internet Governance: the concept itself and models, and also spoke about the evolution of approaches to Internet Governance and current trends in this area. Mikhail Medrish continued to introduce the audience to the topic of Internet Governance, talking about such concepts as stakeholder and actor, as well as about the platforms for implementing Internet governance processes.
The fourth day of the Summer School was devoted to special issues in the field of Internet Governance - the digital economy and the protection of human rights in the information space. On this day, lectures were given by HSE experts Konstantin Vishnevsky and Alena Gerashchenko. Konstantin Vishnevsky introduced the audience to the definition and concept of the digital economy, and also spoke about the role of AI in big data analysis. Then Alena Gerashchenko presented an overview of the basic principles of human rights protection in the digital space and cited a number of examples from judicial practice.
On the fifth day, Elena Zinovieva (MGIMO) revealed the role of digital tools in diplomacy and considered diplomacy in the context of regulating digital technologies. The final lecture of the first stage was a lecture by Karen Kazaryan, in which he spoke about Internet development trends and introduced the audience to the trends that will determine the development of the industry.
The main stage of the School will take place in August - 40 participants will continue their studies as part of the additional educational program of St. Petersburg State University. The remaining participants will retain their status as listeners and will have access to lecture recordings.
During the main stage, participants will learn from experts and practitioners in the field of Internet governance from St. Petersburg State University, MGIMO, Skoltech, the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian MFA, and the law firm Semenov&Pevzner. Participants will also have group assignments and teamwork on topics that are relevant at the international level, and as their final work, they will write analytical essays. The best of them will traditionally be published on the Summer School website after August 20.
